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Athens-Clarke County Mayor Nancy Denson is asking for a small property tax increase in the next fiscal year for a budget that is slightly larger than last year’s, according to a proposal released Monday.

The proposal for the upcoming fiscal year includes a property tax rate increase of 0.25-mill, which will raise the tax bill on a $150,000 home by $12.50, according to the local government.

The proposed general fund operating budget would be $106 million for the upcoming fiscal year, an increase of $1.7 million. Included in the increase is $500,000 for the new Economic Development Department, funds to support the operation costs of voter-approved special-purpose, local-option sales tax projects, and a 2 percent cost-of-living increase for county employees, with a 1 percent performance-based raise possible.

“The goal for this Budget is to keep the Unified Government on a path of sustainable levels of revenues and expenditures over the next few years,” Denson wrote in a letter to Athens-Clarke County commissioners. “Budget recommendations are directly tied to the goal of maintaining (the Athens-Clarke County Unified Government’s) financial stability, while providing quality, sustainable community services to our citizens.”

The Athens-Clarke County Commission is scheduled to vote on the proposal at its June 4 meeting. A public hearing will be held May 23 at 7 p.m. The commissioners are scheduled to review the spending plan on May 9, May 14 and, if needed, May 16.

Denson said the employee raises are of particular importance to her. They haven’t had a percentage raise in five years, she said, and last year’s raise was an across-the-board bump of $500.

“Whether it was the county manager or a janitor, it was the same raise,” she said.

The raises would cost about $2.5 million, with $1.9 million coming from the general fund, according to the letter.

Several SPLOST projects also are scheduled to come on line this year, requiring the local government to fund their operations, she said. Denson’s letter tallies that total at about $400,000 and includes support for the East Athens Community Park, the tennis center, the library, animal shelter and diversion center. It also includes adding seven deputies for six months to support the transition in the expanded jail.

She said in an interview that small savings were able to be found and taken advantage of throughout the budget, but perhaps the most significant — $2.1 million total, $1.5 million from the general fund — was from restructuring the health care benefits received by retirees. The shift includes moving more employees to higher-deductible, lower-cost plans. She said that shift is directly responsible for the potential for raises.

“I’m trying to take advantage of that employee-based savings,” she said.

A mandatory 90-day hiring freeze for vacancies in noncritical jobs is expected to save another $225,000, Denson said.

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